


On Earth, it's a Sunday

by cosmic_llin



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Identity, Mentorship, Pre-Canon, Shenzhou Era, Teaching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-29
Updated: 2017-09-29
Packaged: 2019-01-06 20:49:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12218685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmic_llin/pseuds/cosmic_llin
Summary: The Shenzhou was visiting Earth. It was the first time since Michael had joined the ship, and the first time she’d been there at all since she was a small child. She hadn’t even put in for shore leave.





	On Earth, it's a Sunday

_First Officer’s log, stardate 1207.3. On Earth, it’s May 11th, 2256, a Sunday._

Michael didn’t begin every one of her official logs with the Earth date in addition to the stardate, but lately she’d been doing it more often.

Back when Captain Georgiou had trained it had been compulsory, and Michael knew she still did it every time, in spite of the fact that Starfleet was phasing out the Earth-centric practice. Stardates were simpler, more neutral and more generally comprehensible. Captain Georgiou was forward-thinking and flexible, but she did like her little traditions.

For her own part, when she’d first joined the ship Michael had started adding Vulcan dates - a small, secret act of defiance. Not so much against Captain Georgiou - she’d never complained, and recently she’d confessed to Michael that she’d actually found it endearing - but against her homeworld itself.

The Vulcan Expeditionary Group had rejected her. In spite of her exemplary record, her achievements and skills. Because she _wasn’t Vulcan_. Most of a lifetime spent living, breathing, _being_ Vulcan, and it wasn’t enough for them.

She noted the Vulcan date in her logs, to prove to herself at least that she still belonged there. Illogical? Perhaps. But it made her feel better.

That was probably the strongest evidence of all that she had never really been a good enough Vulcan, but in those first days on the Shenzhou she’d been adept at the mental gymnastics required to ignore her own lapses in logic.

It had been another four years before she’d stopped using the Vulcan date every time.

The Shenzhou was visiting Earth. It was the first time since Michael had joined the ship, and the first time she’d been there at all since she was a small child. She hadn’t even put in for shore leave, planning a few quiet days in her quarters, catching up on some personal projects.

‘Lieutenant Burnham, aren’t you going planetside?’ the captain asked, when Connor handed her the schedule to sign off on.

‘I took shore leave on Denobula, only a few weeks ago,’ said Michael. ‘I don’t need additional planetside time.’

Captain Georgiou looked thoughtfully at her. ‘I won’t make you,’ she said. ‘But would you like to come along with me? I was going to visit a few of my old haunts.’

Shore leave with the captain - that was different. Going planetside under her own steam was too great an undertaking, too much pressure for her to feel things and remember things. Accompanying the captain, she wouldn’t have to think about her own past.

‘All right,’ she said.

* * *

They started in Greece.

‘I used to spend a lot of time here, once,’ the captain said. ‘I came to like it very much. I still visit whenever I’m back on Earth.’

They were sitting outside an eating establishment, at a table that looked out on the sea. They were metres away from the beach. The water sparkled in the sunlight, so bright that Michael squinted.

‘We should have brought protective goggles,’ she said.

‘No need,’ said Captain Georgiou. ‘Here.’

She handed Michael a pair of darkened lenses that sat on the bridge of her nose and stayed on by means of two arms that hooked over her ears.

‘Sunglasses,’ said the captain, putting on her own pair.

They helped. Michael looked out at the sea - the Aegean Sea, she’d checked the map. Earth had so many seas, oceans, lakes. So much water that people immersed themselves in it for fun. Some children on the shore were preparing to do so, right now. She knew this wasn’t one of the largest bodies of water on Earth, not by a long shot, but she still couldn’t look away from it - the way it seemed to stretch on forever.

‘It’s magnificent,’ she said.

‘Michael, can you swim?’ asked the captain.

‘No. It wasn’t ever necessary to learn.’

‘Would you like to?’

* * *

The water was warm, and it moved gently around her. She’d seen footage of waves crashing, towers of water large enough to engulf a person, but this wasn’t like that. This was… pleasant. Unthreatening.

‘Floating is easy,’ said Captain Georgiou, demonstrating, lying on her back atop the bobbing water. ‘Try it. I’ll make sure you’re safe.’

It only took a few attempts, with the captain’s guidance. Once she could float, it seemed pointless to do anything else, but the captain encouraged her to try real swimming. By the time they had to leave, she could manage a few metres of splashing breaststroke, and she felt oddly pleased about it.

* * *

They visited Starfleet Academy, explored the expansive grounds and busy halls. Michael watched the cadets go by in their uniforms and wondered if that would have been her, if her parents hadn’t died. But then, they’d lived on Vulcan and on the Terran-Vulcan Doctari Alpha outpost before that, so it was possible that her parents had always intended for her to spend her entire childhood among Vulcans. Perhaps she wouldn’t have turned out as differently as all that.

The other officers spent so much time talking about the Academy. It was interesting to see it for herself. It was somehow smaller than she had expected.

* * *

They spent the night at the home of a childhood friend of the captain’s in Petaling Jaya. Intan cooked them a meal and interrupted Captain Georgiou’s stories about the history and culture of the city with anecdotes about their exploits in the youth choir where they had met.

Later, Michael lay in her bed in Intan’s guest bedroom, listening to the faint city sounds. When she closed her eyes, she could still see the waves, feel the water around her.

The gravity here was so light that she couldn’t get comfortable - she felt like she was floating off the bed every time she turned over. Her quarters on the Shenzhou were set to Vulcan levels.

She got up, went back to the dark living room, took a seat by the window, started a breathing exercise to calm her thoughts.

‘Can’t sleep?’ asked the captain, entering quietly.

She came and sat beside Michael. ‘It’s been an interesting day, hasn’t it?’ she said.

‘It’s given me a lot to think about,’ Michael said.

‘You know,’ said the captain, ‘if you let Earth into your heart, it doesn’t mean you have to let go of Vulcan. I’m not saying it’s always easy. But don’t trust anybody who tells you that you can’t have both.’

They sat silently for a few minutes, looking through the window at the city lights.

The captain got up, rummaged in a drawer for a moment, and pulled something out. ‘Try a heavier blanket,’ she suggested, handing it to Michael.

‘Thanks, captain,’ said Michael. ‘I will.’

She went back to bed and covered herself with the blanket. It weighed her down and helped with the floating feeling. She slept within minutes.

* * *

The next morning, they went for a walk around the city. Michael couldn’t stop comparing it to Vulcan cities - they were orderly, quiet, dignified. This was busy and loud with voices, so full of people that Michael could barely take it in.

‘Do you like it?’ Captain Georgiou asked.

Michael smiled. ‘I think I might.’

They beamed back up to the Shenzhou two hours and eight minutes later. They wouldn’t leave the system for another two days, but Michael had work to do and others deserved their own chance at shore leave. She went about her day, and almost managed to forget that the Earth was still spinning below them.

Recording her log that evening, it seemed only natural to include the Earth date. They were in orbit, after all.


End file.
